Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Yadlin: Qom has no civilian use

Rebecca Anna Stoil , THE JERUSALEM POST

The recently-revealed Iranian nuclear facility in the Shi'a holy city of Qom has "no possible civilian use," Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin said Tuesday morning, directly contradicting statements made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in September. Speaking during a briefing of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yadlin said that the Qom facility is designed for enrichment of uranium and at full capacity can hold 3,000 advanced centrifuges.

Yadlin said that the Israeli intelligence assessment was that Iran was interested in a horizontal expansion of its nuclear production capacity, so that when Teheran decides to advance to nuclear weapons capability, it will be able to do so in the shortest possible period of time.

Yadlin emphasized that Iran is "competent in enrichment technology" and has not thus far been moved by the international response to its nuclear program.

Yadlin noted that although the international deadline for talks with Iran was set for the end of 2009, sanctions against Iran had more chance of success than in the past because of the current economic and political conditions in the country.

"Iran isn't North Korea," he explained. On the other hand, said Yadlin, China and Russia have still not signed on to supporting any international sanctions against Teheran.

Yadlin also said that one important goal for Israel was to prevent the entry of any of the 3,000 centrifuges from being installed at the Qom site.

The Arab countries, according to Yadlin, are afraid of Iran's nuclear development and in response are speeding up their own civilian nuclear developments.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1256799080969&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

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